Rochester institute of technology

Three years ago when I first heard that The Strong Museum of Play (located right here in Rochester, NY) initiated the only Video Game Hall of Fame in the United States, my Roc pride was met with triumphant fists to the sky, followed with a “fuck yeah! I love my garbage plate city!”

Seeing The Strong make headlines on major game publications such as Polygon for the game museum, or Game Informer write about the launch of a “Women in Games Initiative” always comes off a bit surreal. But why is it surreal, when it now seems to be a reoccurring theme for Rochester to be making headlines in the game industry? It’s because, at the end of the day, this city is still small. Hang out at enough coffee shops, and get your groceries at Wegmans, in a week’s time, you’ll practically be the mayor of Rochester. So seeing this small time town make headlines on huge game news outlets gets me giddy. It’s a different feeling from living in Seattle–a city recently built on the foundation of the gaming industry–where headlines about Nintendo and Microsoft and Valve are to be expected.

That all said: today I was able to attend an event here in Rochester, that journalists at major publications, couldn’t attend so easily. Being a Rochesterian, and a game journalist, I was able to mosey just a few blocks from the CITY Newspaper offices (where I work) to The Strong National Museum of Play, and witness the unveiling of 2017’s Video Game Hall of Fame inductees in person, when otherwise, others watched from a live-stream. It felt good.

Best part of today was that I finally got the chance to write for my local publication about video games–an opportunity I’ve been patiently waiting for. So a big thank you to CITY Newspaper for allowing me to do that.

Whether or not they intentionally chose May 4 — arguably geek culture’s most favorite day of the year — is up for debate, but The Strong National Museum of Play today presented the 2017 inductees into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Based on a committee formed of international journalists, game developers, and educators, this year’s inductees include “Donkey Kong,” “Street Fight II,” Pokémon “Red” and “Green,” and “Halo: Combat Evolved.”

I’ve been feeling that itch to write again, specifically about video games. The time feels right for it. I took some time off, made some music, made a movie, got a job at local publication CITY Newspaper. I’ve been exploring and keeping my eyes open to all opportunities. And in that exploration, I’ve drifted away from this blog. My first few posts were intended solely on building my portfolio as a writer so I had something to show websites I was pursuing for work. After I accomplished just that and got my start writing at Indie Game Magazine and Adventure Gamers, I stopped focusing on VGC&C — after all, its initial purpose of getting me a gig was fulfilled. But after doing the game journalism thing for the better half of a year with little to no pay, it was time to take a step back, get a job that did pay, and explore different opportunities.

Unfortunately, the jobs I succumbed to for income weren’t the writing kind. I assure you, if it paid, I would have kept writing. But I had to face the harsh truth for the sake of my adult responsibility—not to mention my relationship—and pay my end of rent. (And that isn’t to say one can’t get paid to write, I was just having trouble.)

So here we are: a couple years later, a pretty good job at a local publication, and some new experiences and endeavors under my belt. No, I haven’t been able to flex my writing muscles at CITY quite yet, but it’s been a step in the right direction. And most of all, it’s bringing me opportunities in less than expected places. Opportunities in video games, right here in my home city.

Here in Rochester, NY, there’s been a slow but surely steady growing scene of independent game developers. Games like Halloween Forever from developer Peter Lazarski. Or, there’s the still currently in-development A Small Robot Story by Rob Mostyn (AKA bc likes you!). Not to mention the bigger names in this town like Workinman: a studio that specializes in developing licensed titles for the likes of Paramount, Nickelodeon, and Disney; they’ve also dipped their toes in smaller indie titles like DeathState. There’s also Darkwind Media too, and even the recently founded Second Avenue Learning. Actually, the game scene here doesn’t seem slow and steady at all — it’s at the brink of bursting at the seams.

But back in 2015 when I was writing full time, none of this was really happening — or at least I wasn’t aware of it. Then again, when I was writing for IGM, I was essentially alone in my bedroom, completely telecommuting, with virtually no person-to-person interaction. It took a bizarre toll on me I didn’t expect; it actually made me anxious and depressed.

If I didn’t take that step back from game journalism, and sought out opportunities elsewhere, I may have never come back around to find that the some of the most fascinating things happening are here in my own front yard. I also have to thank my position at CITY, because without it, I may have not had the toe in the door to this community that I currently have.

So being here in Rochester, meeting these developers face-to-face, being able to attend these panels and events, has peaked my interest and brought me back to why I started wanting to write about games in the first place: because they inspired me.

So why aren’t I writing about this for CITY you may ask? Well, CITY and I aren’t there yet. Sometimes jobs are like relationships, and time & patience can be wonderful things. But till then, there’s no reason why I can’t mumble and rant here.

I don’t really have any specific intentions with VGC&C, and frankly, I’d like to keep it that way. I don’t want to set an expectation of when I’ll post again, or more specifically, assign myself the sole responsibility of writing about the Rochester video game scene. But there are things happening, and they’re happening in my neck of the woods, and that’s worth writing about.

-kurt

P.S. This post—if anything—was a nudge on my end to scratch that writing itch. With all this said, if there are other folks in the Rochester area (or upstate New York in general for that matter), who are writing about games happening in their town, I’d love to know em. So please, if you’d like, send them my way, or, introduce yourself.

Currently playing:The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the WildLittle Inferno(Can you guess what console I just got?)